I’ve been trying to write
this poem where I give
you the swiss army knife
you’ll need for this fucked
up life. Sharp, serrated,
capable of shearing,
a corkscrew for celebrations,
tweezers and toothpick
for life’s smaller problems.
With it you’d lightsaber
your way through school
though I know the standard
tool kit of the standard
swiss army knife doesn’t
come with that or a halberd
though you’ll need both
of those and the world’s
most compact blowtorch
and the slingshot I used
all my life because much
was greater than me but
with it I learned to be unafraid.
These you’ll need I know,
but I know there will never
be a good time to tell you why,
to tell you that men will want
to rape you that men will want
to cage and burn your body,
if you refuse. And why at times
when you are afraid of me,
I think good if you hate me
and wish I were dead–
what’s more useful to a little girl
than learning men are dangerous.
the hard lessons.
This poem speaks volumes about today’s world. Raising a daughter is not easy, but there is a special relationship between a daddy and daughter.
That can’t have been easy to write. Thank you for sharing it.
You have very powerful endings, Christopher McCurry. I had a female student with such a device on her key chain last fall. Come Christmas, I wanted to give everyone I know an all purpose tool for their key chain.
Powerful, Chris.
A credit to fathers everywhere. You remind me how much the world has changed when it comes to raising children. Excellent poem, Chris!
Thank you for writing this.
This poem builds like a short story or novel and ends with a truth into of a whimper…
Very powerful, sir.
And intriguing counterpoint to the last one I posted.
Not that the two are mutually exclusive, but a different world raising a daughter.
This poem is incredibly powerful, resonant, and beautiful in its execution. Painful but so important.
Yes. Thanks, Chris.
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